Dictionary Of National Biography 1885-1900:<\/b><\/p>\n
John MacGowan (1726\u20131780), baptist minister, was born in 1726 at Edinburgh. After receiving a good education, he was apprenticed to a weaver. He subsequently settled in Bridge Street, Warrington, as a baker. He had early become a Wesleyan, and now joined the methodist movement as a preacher. At a later period he was attracted by the independents, but finally joined the particular baptists. He ministered at the old baptist chapel at Hill Cliff, near Warrington, and afterwards at Bridgnorth (Notes and Queries, 5th ser. vii. 75).<\/p>\n
In September 1766 Macgowan became pastor of the old meeting-house in Devonshire Square, Bishopsgate, opened by William Kiffin [q. v.] in 1687. Here he remained until his death. His preaching, despite its Calvinistic tone, became popular. In failing health, Macgowan administered the sacrament for the last time on 12 Nov. 1780, and died 25 Nov. He was buried in Bunhill Fields (cf. Wilson). He left a widow and children.<\/p>\n
Macgowan was a writer of some talent. In controversy his style was caustic and ironical, and in his devotional works he had frequent recourse to allegory. His books went through many editions in London, the North of England, and America. Several were published under pseudonyms, i.e. \u2018The Shaver\u2019 and \u2018Pasquin Shaveblock.\u2019 His chief work, \u2018Infernal Conferences, or Dialogues of Devils, by the Listener,\u2019 London, 1772, 2 vols. 12mo, may have been suggested by \u2018The Dialogues of the Dead\u2019 (London, 1760) of George, lord Lyttelton. He edited, with notes, \u2018Night, a Satire upon the Manners of the Rich and Great,\u2019 by Charles Churchill [q. v.], probably about 1768.<\/p>\n
The titles of his chief other publications are:<\/p>\n
\u2018Letter to an Arian,\u2019 dated 28 April 1761, printed in John Allen’s \u2018Crown of Crowns,\u2019 3rd edit. 1816.<\/p>\n
\u2018The Arians’ and Socinians’ Monitor, being a Vision that a young Socinian lately had,\u2019 London, 1761; 3rd edit. 1795; 12th edit. 1883.<\/p>\n
\u2018Death: a Vision, or the Solemn Departure of Saints and Sinners, represented under the Similitude of a Dream,\u2019 London, 1766; 2nd edit. 1768; 7th edit. 1780; other editions, Leeds, 1805; Edinb. 1844, &c.<\/p>\n
\u2018Priestcraft Defended; a Sermon occasioned by the Expulsion of Six Young Gentlemen from the University of Oxford, for praying, reading, and expounding the Scriptures; humbly dedicated to the Vice-Chancellor and the Heads of Houses, by the Shaver.\u2019 This pamphlet, written in a satirical vein upon a \u2018text taken from the \u201cSt. James’s Chronicle\u201d of Thursday, 17 March 1768,\u2019 relating to the expulsion (cf. Gent. Mag. 1768, pp. 225, 410), ran through eleven editions in eight months. It was followed by \u2018A Further Defence of Priestcraft, being a Practical Improvement of the Shaver’s Sermon on the Expulsion of Six Students, &c., occasioned by a Vindication of that pious act, by a Member of the University,\u2019 5th edit. 1768. This was answered by \u2018The Shaver Shaved by a Matriculated Barber,\u2019 London, 1769. \u2018The Shaver’s New Sermon for the Fast Day, by Pasquin Shaveblock,\u2019 5th edit. 1795, appears to be by Macgowan, although the preface to this edition is dated \u2018Barbers’ Hall, 17 Feb. 1795,\u2019 five years after his death.<\/p>\n
\u2018Familiar Epistles to the Rev. Dr. Priestley, by the Author of \u201cThe Shaver’s Sermon,\u201d\u2019 London, 1771.<\/p>\n
\u2018The Life of Joseph, the Son of Israel,\u2019 in eight books, London, 1771; in ten books, with a frontispiece, dedicated to the Rev. Dr. Honywood, 1799. This has been frequently reprinted, and was translated into Gaelic by Patrick Macfarlane [q. v.], Glasgow, 1831.<\/p>\n
\u2018Socinianism brought to the Test, &c., in a series of Twenty Letters to Dr. Priestley.\u2019 An answer to \u2018A Free Address to Protestant Dissenters\u2019 (1768), London, 1773.<\/p>\n
\u2018A curious Letter to the Rev. S. B. Blacket, occasioned by his Sermon preached before the Bishop of Exeter at the Consecration of St. Aubin’s Church, Plymouth.\u2019<\/p>\n
\u2018The Foundry Budget opened, or the Arcanum of Wesleyanism disclosed,\u2019 a reply to W. Sellon’s \u2018Defence of God’s Sovereignty against the Aspersions cast upon it,\u2019 by E. Coles, London, 1780; another edit. Manchester.<\/p>\n
\u2018Discourses on the Book of Ruth, and other Important Subjects,\u2019 edited and prefaced by the Rev. J. Reynolds, 1781.<\/p>\n
A collected edition, consisting of \u2018Infernal Conferences\u2019 and four other of Macgowan’s works, with portrait and illustrations, was published soon after his death, London, no date. Another, containing nine of the above, was published in 2 vols. London, 1825. \u2018Church and King,\u2019 a thanksgiving sermon for 29 May, by Pasquin Shaveblock, London, 1795, although attributed to Macgowan, seems unlikely to be his.<\/p>\n[Kendrick’s Profiles of Warrington Worthies, p. 8; Wilson’s History of Dissenting Churches, i. 448\u201353; Halkett and Laing’s Dict. of Anon. and Pseudon. Lit.; Notes and Queries, 5th ser. vi. 509; Sutton’s List of Lancashire Authors, p. 75; Sermon on Macgowan’s death by Benjamin Wallin, and Funeral Oration by Samuel Stennett, D.D., London, 1781.]\n